Thursday, January 19, 2006

Dagmar over at A cat in the kitchen posted a picture of a fancy seafood smörgåstårta that her mother had made, so I decided to share a picture of the võileivatort I made for the New Year's Eve party. Sandwich Cakes have been a popular feature on Estonian buffet and coffee tables since 1990s, most common being either ham cake or seafood cake. Although I happily eat fish (less bones, heads, scales etc), I don't eat seafood like shrimps, mussels etc. Which inevitably means that I tend to prefer the ham version:

This ham sandwich cake served 20 people as part of the New Year's Eve table. I used whole rye bread slices for the 3 bread layers (3x4 slices per layer). The moist (NB! this is absolutely essential, as there is nothing worse than a dry sandwich cake!) filling consisted of finely chopped pickled dill cucumbers, lean turkey ham, cream cheese, sour cream, mayonnaise, loads of herbs (dill, chives and parsley) and seasonings. But basically you can layer the bread with any of your favourite sandwich fillings. I do one with canned tuna, leek and chopped egg and mayo occasionally as well.

Kalyn - I guess I must make a sandwich cake soon again, and provide a recipe and proper pictures (especially of the slice!)

Kat & Satoshi - I didn't realise it's not common outside the region. It's very popular in Estonia (every single supermarket would stock at least one fishy and one ham cake, if not more versions; most cafes would make one on order), and I've seen lots of recipes for sandwich cakes on various Finnish and Swedish recipe sources. Basically, it's a fancy way to serve sandwiches - you cut the cake into small squares and everyone tucks into their cake with a small fork..

Hi Pille, what wonderful sandwich cake ! And what great idea. It reminds me that not everything which we had back in the seventies was bad at all, and I am sure it makes a great impression when being presented on the occasion of a party. Though I personally would prefer Dagmar's seafood version I could also fall in love with your ham option... Kindest regards and looking forward to your next posts, angelika

Angelika - thanks! It'd be interesting to follow the culinary trail of the sandwich cake. I'm pretty sure it arrived in Estonia slightly later than in 1970s - the Iron Curtain must have been to blame:)